Norfolk Unity

BNP man “Silky3″ posting on the Nazi Stormfront website (Feb 27th):

I feel like getting hold of a gun,going to the tunnel or wherever most of these parasites are coming from,and going on a shooting spree.Then, go to every ethnic group/centre,Government buildings and doing the same.I absolutely hate with a passion what these selfish,twisted b@stards have done and ARE doing to this country.

I also feel like going up and hitting ethnics when I see them.

Responses:

“Same here.”

“Me too.”

“Just because homo-africanis walks upright does not mean that they are human beings.”

“Yes often, especially when I am driving in London having to put up with the rude, incompetent ethnics,”

This is the real voice of the real BNP. Do I need to say more?

[Having just taken a quick gander at Stormfront, "Silky3", in a rant against "poofters", would appear to be a woman. Nice people!]

MORE people than ever are being found guilty of racially aggravated offences of violence in Suffolk, it emerged today.

New figures show the conviction rate has nearly trebled in only five years, from just 20 in 2002, to 58 in 2006.

The dramatic increase mirrors a similar sharp rise in the numbers of reported racist incidents.

In 1998/99, 150 offences which were believed to have been motivated by prejudice or hate, owing to race and faith, were reported.

But by 2006/07, that figure had leapt to 437 – a 191 per cent rise.

Police claim the increase could be down to the implementation of a number of measures aimed at making the reporting of such offences easier.

However, Jane Basham, director of the Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE), said the results were an indication that racism was on the rise in the county.

“We must remember that it is a minority of people who commit race hate crime,” she said.

“Racism is an issue in Suffolk. The reality is that we continue to see an increase in racism across the county.

“ISCRE does not believe there is any real evidence to support the view that increased reporting and conviction rates of race hate crime is as a direct result of vigilance of agencies and confidence in the system.”

All police forces are required to closely monitor offences deemed to be racially aggravated.

Suffolk police said a new website and freephone number had made reporting racist incidents simpler, thus speeding up the conviction rate.

The force also believes the influx of migrant workers from Eastern Europe, many of whom are attracted to the county’s employment opportunities, could also be behind the increase.

Peter Haystead, Suffolk police’s community relations inspector, said dealing with hate crime was a priority.

He said: “There are various initiatives which police have developed over the years to try to encourage people to report incidents.

“We have seen a general increase (in offences involving racism) but the British Crime Survey suggests that’s down to people’s confidence in reporting incidents rather than an increase in the number of offences.”

To report a hate crime, call freephone 0800 1381643, or 999 in an emergency.

Ipswich Evening Star

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has told the British National Party it could face legal action if it continues to publish leaflets called The Londoner’.

The British National Party is distributing a leaflet across London, misleadingly titled The Londoner’.

The front cover features the headline The changing face of London’ with a photograph of Asian women and the words Is this what you really want?’

The Mayor publishes a monthly newspaper called The Londoner’ which is distributed to homes throughout London.

The Greater London Authority has been the registered owner of The Londoner’ trademark since 2002 and the British National Party has blatantly disregarded the rights of the GLA.

A legal letter to the British National Party states: “The GLA believes that you are intentionally trading on the goodwill of the GLA in the trademark of The Londoner’ by using a trademark which is confusingly similar to The Londoner’ and that the use of the trademark, does, or is intended to, confuse or mislead members of the public.”

The letter demands that the British National Party cease and desist from using the trademark and remove from circulation any publication using The Londoner’.

The Mayor Ken Livingstone said: “The Londoner has been published for eight years and is a well-known newspaper across the capital.

“It is a disgrace that the BNP has deliberately chosen to trade on our good name by calling its outrageous propaganda The Londoner.

“Londoners should be clear that there is absolutely no link between the newspaper they receive each month and this offensive BNP leaflet.”

Asian Image

Not as common in Britain as it is in the USA, the mass-mailing of hate emails is becoming a popular method used by racist groups to spread their noxious message.

If you receive dozens of poisonous emails each week, as I do, from well meaning people who are intent on bashing certain ethnic groups, then perhaps you also feel: “Enough already!” It is not just the volume of this hate mail that disturbs me; it’s also that so much of it is misinformed, scurrilous, and/or downright false.

The two groups now in the crosshairs of this activity are Hispanics and Muslims. In California, where I live in the winters, Hispanics are highly prominent both in population and as subjects of comment.

At this point, it is fair to mention we do have problems that are in dire need of solutions. Yes, the borders are porous, there are unique problems to be addressed within the Hispanic community, and there are other issues widely and hotly discussed in today’s political climate. It is not my objective to solve them; it is an attempt to put things in prospective, tone down the rhetoric, and deal with facts rather than the absurd urban legends about Hispanics who came earlier, and immigrants yet to come. That is the only way a well-reasoned solution can come about.

There are a variety of false and mean-spirited anti-immigrant messages circulating on on the Internet. Most complain about the supposed free ride Hispanic immigrants get in America, i.e. the horrendous costs to the taxpayers, the loss of American jobs and the cause of crime in our communities. Such messages are a mishmash of fact, fiction and plain prejudice. To get any traction on a solution, we need facts, not hyperbole. It is always too easy to play off fear and anxiety.

Part of the problem stems from a common but fallacious point of logic, which we all learned in Logic 101: Juan is Hispanic. Illegals are Hispanic. Therefore Juan is an illegal. This fallacy (untruth), known as a syllogism, is flawed logic. Reflecting on that before we judge Juan would be a good idea.

Another good idea is to change the rhetoric. I have now stopped using the word “illegal” and started using the words “documented” and “undocumented.” This is to help tone down the rhetoric so we can come up with fair, humane, economically sound solutions for our country. I further believe this approach is best for all Americans as we traverse a heated and sometimes angry presidential campaign, in which candidates have been trying to outdo each other in turning up the heat on this issue. It is up to us, as citizens, to point the candidates in a more productive direction with patience, tolerance and reason.

In a similar, but even more vitriolic vein, I get some really mean (and usually distorted or false) material about Muslims. I can understand this hatred, though I cannot agree with it. There is no denying certain Islamic fundamentalists are a danger to our country, and have already caused great harm. Protecting ourselves from this radical group is essential and warranted. My complaint is that the criticisms I hear are way over the top, and tend to paint all Muslims with the same brush. If we have learned anything about unmitigated prejudice in our lives – whether it be from Adolf Hitler or the Ku Klux Klan – it is that such views are unwarranted, unfair, and even dangerous. Yet too many false messages get passed from computer to computer – even after having been thoroughly discredited.

Bashing Hispanics and Muslims in America is bad for many reasons, aside from the fact that it is wrong. First, it is obviously unfair to members of those groups who are people of good will, peace, and integrity. Second, it poisons and polarizes our society, as all prejudice and bigotry ultimately do. Third, it does not push accommodation, dialog, and understanding forward; indeed it exacerbates the many legitimate problems that are in search of a solution. But most important, it goes back to the adage that intolerance is OK as long as it is not my ox that is being gored. Which brings me to one of the most famous quotes on this subject, and one that we should all note and heed. It is from Martin Niemoeller, who used it in speeches (it has been variously worded) after World War II:

“First they came for the Jews, but I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me, and no one was left to speak out for me.”

The bottom line: There is no place in our society for the disparagement of any group – and it is up to each of us to speak out, and end it now.

Myles Spicer of Minnetonka has spent his business career as a professional writer and owned several successful ad agencies over the past 45 years.

Myles Spicer on the MinnPost

Let’s vote for our London

This month Searchlight launches its campaign to stop the British National Party from winning seats in the London Assembly. Our objectives are simple. We need to prevent the BNP from gaining the 5% in the London list vote that would give it one seat, the 8% which would gain it two and the 11% which would see the party win three.

Over the next three months we will undertake our largest, most targeted and sophisticated campaign to date.

We will adapt the lessons from recent campaigns across the country and bring in new techniques that have been pioneered in the United States.

Given the size of the London constituency, with around 5.3 million potential voters, there will be a much bigger emphasis on internet and email campaigning, though this will not come at the expense of community work, especially the enthusing of minority communities and the mobilisation of faith communities.

There must be no pretending that our task is straightforward. In last May’s local elections the BNP polled 14.7% in the 742 wards it contested across the country. The highest average regional vote was in the Eastern region where the party achieved 19% of the vote in the 65 wards contested. The lowest regional vote was 11.1% in the South West, where the BNP fielded 34 candidates. If even its lowest regional average was replicated in London then the BNP would be on the verge of winning three seats on the Assembly.

The BNP is hopeful of success. In the 2006 local elections the party polled 41% in the wards it contested in Barking and Dagenham. It gained councillors in Havering and Redbridge, and overall it averaged 25% of the vote in the 27 wards it contested.

Its prospects will also be boosted by the virtual collapse of the UK Independence Party, whose London Assembly representatives now sit as the One London party. In the last London Assembly elections, contested in 2004 on the same day as the European elections, the UKIP polled 8.8% of the London list vote. This support is now up for grabs and research has indicated that much of it may cross to the BNP.

It is no wonder then that the BNP is prioritising London this year. The region has so far not been affected by the internal party feuds and Nick Griffin, the party leader, knows that even one place on the London Assembly will attract more media attention than several council election victories around the country.

The election will also be an important dry run for next year’s all-important European elections. Victory here, rather than in London on its own, would take the BNP out of the political margins. Each MEP would receive at least £200,000 a year in salary and allowances, so would be able to employ several BNP members as staff, but just as importantly MEPs would give the fascists a credibility they currently do not have.

Mobilising the majority

So, given all of the above, is it certain the BNP will win? Absolutely not, but we will only be successful in preventing a BNP victory if we can launch the biggest anti-BNP campaign to date. And that means people getting active and increasing turnout.

As our table below shows, increasing the turnout will make it significantly harder for the BNP. So increasing the turnout is our key priority.

London has particular groups that need to be mobilised. One third of Londoners are immigrants or the children of immigrants and this figures rises greatly if you include people who have moved into the capital from other parts of the UK.

The capital is far more socially liberal and tolerant than other parts of the UK. Research has shown repeatedly that Londoners are 20% more liberal in their social attitudes than people in other regions.

Many Londoners love London precisely because of its diversity. It is a “World in One City”, a fact that gave us the Olympics and gives it an identity unlike anywhere else. Warts and all, it is the most multicultural city in the world.

We cannot take it for granted that our Londoners will come out and vote. They will need to be reminded, cajoled and encouraged. There is genuine outrage and horror among so many ordinary people when the threat of the BNP is explained. However, often it is expressed only when the threat is explained and over the next couple of months it is vital that anti-fascists get to speak to as many people and groups as possible.

The internet will be vital in this. There are over four million people registered to vote in London. There are another million who are of voting age but are not yet registered. It would be foolhardy to believe that we can speak to anything but a fraction of these people so the internet and email networks provide the best way to spread our message more widely.

Searchlight is fortunate to be able to draw on the skills of political and community campaigners in the United States. They have shared their experiences, provided us with free software and given us advice about internet campaigning. Anyone who has visited our updated website or received one of our weekly email bulletins has, we hope, noticed improvements in recent weeks.

Our changes appear to be paying dividends. In December over 34,000 unique users (different computers) visited our Stop the BNP site, viewing over 400,000 pages. This was a massive increase over previous months and can only be considered a taster for the real campaign over the next few weeks.

Welcome

Searchlight is kicking off its London effort later this month with a “Welcome” campaign. Our opening salvo is “Welcome the stranger you once were”. It is an attempt to remind people that London is a city of immigration, be it from abroad or from other parts of the UK.

It is also intended to be a positive reminder that the diversity of London is something to celebrate. It is a world in one city and most of us love it for that very reason.

This is only the start. Searchlight and its union, faith and community partners have drawn up a three-month rolling programme of action that will take us to polling day. Each activity will hopefully lead neatly into the next and all the time we hope to be raising the profile of our campaign and the importance of voting for our London.

Over the weekend of 15-16 March we will hold activities across the capital. From attending church services to running town centre stalls, mass leafleting of estates to community meetings, there will be something for every-one to do. In the process we hope to reach out to hun-dreds of thousands of people right across London.

But none of this can happen without your help. Searchlight has thousands of readers in London and there is a role for everyone. Some people might be prepared to deliver leaflets or staff Hope not Hate stalls in shopping centres, others might prefer to work quietly within their own community networks. Yet others may be able to do none of these but could still spread the word to their friends and family by email.

Searchlight cannot stress the importance of the London elections enough. A significant BNP break-through here will give the party a major platform for the European elections. We urge all of our readers to do whatever they can to get involved in the campaign.

To find out more please visit our campaign site http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/london/

Searchlight

Look anywhere on the Web and you’ll find BNP members declaring how “proud” they are to belong to the racist party.

So proud of the name “British National Party” that they pretend to be anything but when booking meeting rooms.

Recently the party lied to the worthy folks of the Hastings Voluntary Association for the Blind, booking a room on their premises for a meeting attended by Nick Griffin in the false name “British Heritage”.

HVAB was disgusted that the British National Party had lied to gain access. Spokesperson Jean Fleming said: “To say we are shocked about this is an understatement. We are horrified. We would not have allowed the booking if we had known it was for this purpose.”

The BNP also lied to obtain the use of Little Kimble (Bucks) Stewart Hall, again for a Griffin meeting, and again using the fake “British Heritage” name.

In Birmingham on February 23rd the BNP’s bogus micro “trade union”, Solidarity, held its annual conference at the Apollo Hotel, Birmingham. The booking was made in the name of “Accentuate”, a vaporous one man “PR company” which seems to exist to issue press releases nobody takes any notice of.

Solidarity, taken from its founders Clive Potter and Tim Hawke in dubious circumstances in a Griffin-inspired coup and handed to failure and nonentity Patrick Harrington, is so useless that the only advice it could give Mark Walker, at the centre of its feeble cause celebre case, was to “hire a lawyer specialising in employment law”.

Some union!

The reason for booking the Apollo Hotel in the name “Accentuate” was purely to con the owners and to disguise the fact that this was a BNP event in all but name.

True to paranoid form, Solidarity insisted its members meet outside a McDonalds from where they would be redirected. I understand they were also told to keep schtumm so that the Apollo’s owners didn’t tumble to the fact that it was playing host to a gathering of hardcore racists.

The paranoia extended even to its own small band of deluded devotees, who were subjected to bag searches and “other security measures”. Photography was out, so were mobile phones and “recording equipment”, and only three hours were allowed from start to finish.

Not exactly like your average above board trade union with nothing to hide, is it?

But then nothing about the BNP is above board, and it has plenty to hide.

Exactly 65 years ago today three young Germans went to their deaths following a perfunctory Nazi show trial prosecuted by the notorious Roland Freisler. The three were members of the White Rose, a war-time anti-Nazi resistance group little known outside Germany, even today. In the months and years following those first executions other members of the group, most of them young, idealistic and patriotic, also lost their lives to the vengeful Nazi state.

Read more at Lancaster Unity.

After placing a peg on your nose you can – if you have a strong stomach and plenty of moral resolve – bring yourself to read some of the BNP’s literature. Apart from the bigotry, the constant use of the words proud, English and threat you will often see reference to ‘Freedom Promotions.’ It would appear that Freedom Promotions is a front for the financial arm of the BNP – when ordering leaflets etc BNP members make their cheques payable to Freedom Promotions.

If you visit the website of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) you will find a list of unauthorised internet banks – one of which is an organisation called… you guessed it, Freedom Promotions.

Is the BNP running an unauthorised internet bank?

Why not ring the FSA and ask them – their number is 020 7066 1000

From Mike Ion’s blog.

EXTREME right wing political group the National Front has set up a youth group in Chippenham, despite huge opposition from schools and parents.

The group, whose conditions of membership include no homosexuals, must be of white parentage and partners must also be white’, has already held two meetings in the town.

At the latest meeting on February 16, more than 25 youngsters from the age of 14 attended and awards were handed out to individuals for their work for the organisation.

When the Gazette broke the news of the National Front’s arrival in Chippenham in September, schools were outraged that the party intended to hand out leaflets at the gates to attract young members.

Gerard MacMahon, head teacher at Sheldon School, said: “I am confident that our pupils would not have any involvement with an organisation which is involved in the stirring or spreading of hate.

“At the school we would have nothing to do with an organisation like that – Sheldon will have nothing to do with them.

“As an immigrant myself, I am not at all interested in what they have got to say.”

News that the party has managed to establish a youth group in town has come as a shock to many. Mum-of-two teenagers Emma Fitzwarren, 44, of Eastern Avenue said: “I think it is totally disgusting they have infiltrated the town – why have people even given them the time of day?

“I have warned my children about getting involved with the racists and I know they would never be sucked into it.

“I am now just concerned about other children. They might feel pressured to join and that could lead to horrendous consequences. I plead with all parents to make sure their children are not involved.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire College said: “We are an inclusive organisation and we would be very concerned about any association with groups who do not share our values, particularly those who would seek to discriminate against groups or individuals.”

Steve Reynolds, executive member of the National Front, said: “Many issues arose, one on their safety and their fears of being attacked by others. Some expressed concern for their elderly relatives, claiming they had been failed by the system and others in the community. We also touched on the closure of Lacock Post Office.”

Gazette and Herald